Myanmar court frees student activists after Suu Kyi pledge (Updates)

Student protest leader Min Thawe Thit was among dozens of activists released by a Myanmar court on April 8, 2016. - AFP

Tharrawaddy (Myanmar) (AFP) - A Myanmar court on Friday freed dozens of jailed students, in the first wave of detainee releases after Aung San Suu Kyi pledged that freeing activists and political prisoners would be the first priority of her new government.

There were jubilant scenes at the sweltering central Myanmar courthouse in Tharrawaddy, as a judge told young activists that they could go home more than a year after they were arrested over their education protest that was crushed in a violent police crackdown in March 2015.